Cytokine increases production of “beige fat” to burn more cellular energy.
An immune signal promotes the production of energy-burning “beige fat,” according to a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Zhonghan Yang of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China, and coworkers. The finding might result in new methods to decrease obesity and deal with metabolic disorders.
The beige color in beige fat comes from its high concentration of mitochondria, the cells powerhouses. In beige fat, mitochondria accumulate a protein called “uncoupling protein-1” that limits ATP production, creating heat instead.
Infants are born with “brown fat,” a comparable tissue focused in the shoulder region, which assists them remain warm, but brown fat is gradually lost with age. Not so beige fat, which is more commonly distributed and which can be created throughout life in response to both neuronal and cold or hormone stimulation.
To explore that guideline further, the authors controlled levels of the cytokine interleukin-25, and revealed that a boost in the cytokine could imitate the results of both cold and stimulation of a hormonal agent receptor in increasing the production of beige fat in mice. Those cells acted on nerve cells that terminate in the beige fat tissue, promoting an increase in production of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which was already known to promote beige fat production.
Lastly, the authors revealed that administering IL-25 to mice that were consuming a high-fat diet avoided them from becoming overweight and enhanced their capability to maintain their responsiveness to insulin, which is impaired in persistent obesity.
” Our results reveal that interleukin-25 plays an essential function in production of beige fat,” Yang stated, “and point towards increasing interleukin-25 signaling as a prospective treatment for weight problems.”
Referral: “IL-25– caused shifts in macrophage polarization promote advancement of beige fat and enhance metabolic homeostasis in mice” by Lingyi Li, Lei Ma, Zewei Zhao, Shiya Luo, Baoyong Gong, Jin Li, Juan Feng, Hui Zhang, Weiwei Qi, Ti Zhou, Xia Yang, Guoquan Gao and Zhonghan Yang, 5 August 2021, PLOS Biology.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pbio.3001348.
Funding: This work was moneyed by the National Nature Science Foundation of China( grant number No: 81570764, 81770808, 81701414, 81872165 and 81871211), National Key R&D Program of China (grant number No. 2018YFA0800403), Guangdong Provincial Key R&D Program (grant number No: 2018B030337001 and 2019B020227003), Key Project of Nature Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (grant number No. 2019B1515120077), Guangdong Natural Science Fund (grant number No: 2019A1515011810 and 2020A1515010365), Guangdong Science and Technology Project (grant number No. 2017A020215075), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation Research of Hakka Population (grant number No. 2018B030322003KF01), Guangzhou Science and Technology Project (grant number No: 201807010069, 201803010017 and 202002020022) and Shenzhen Science and Technology Project (grant number No. JCYJ20190807154205627) gotten by Weiwei Qi, Ti Zhou, Xia Yang, Guoquan Gao and Zhonghan Yang. The funders had no function in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to release, or preparation of the manuscript.
The beige color in beige fat comes from its high concentration of mitochondria, the cells powerhouses. To explore that guideline further, the authors manipulated levels of the cytokine interleukin-25, and revealed that a boost in the cytokine could simulate the impacts of both cold and stimulation of a hormonal agent receptor in increasing the production of beige fat in mice. Those cells acted on nerve cells that terminate in the beige fat tissue, promoting an increase in production of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which was already known to promote beige fat production.